I was born in Ste. Rose du Lac, Manitoba, on January 19, 1936 and raised in Crane River. I went to school in Crane River up to Grade 4. Then I started working for local farmers. Later I moved to St. Boniface to work at Central Grain Company. There a man put bad Indian medicine on me and told me “You’re gonna die.” I didn’t believe him, but that day a severe pain started in my leg that continued for twenty years. The doctors could find nothing wrong with me but eventually, I had to quit my job and was drinking steadily.

I met my wife, Mary Fisher, in a hotel bar in Winnipeg. We were both alcoho...